Three U.S. servicemen accused of raping an Okinawa schoolgirl were painted as stellar soldiers, and one as a loving husband, as defense attorneys Monday sought to soften the men's violent image in a case that has outraged Japan. Marine Pfc. Rodrico Harp, 21, buried his head in his hands and wept as his wife, Denitrease, apologized for the crime and told the court her husband is a gentle, intelligent man who "adored" his two children. "I'm very sorry," she said, before breaking down in sobs.

Some events that have raised tensions about the U.S. military presence in Japan, where about 47,000 U.S. service members are based under a mutual security treaty. Nearly two-thirds of them are in Okinawa, 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo: * U.S. Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston, the top Marine on Okinawa, reportedly refers to local officials as "nuts and a bunch of wimps" in an e-mail. He apologizes Tuesday and again Thursday. * A U.S. Navy serviceman is arrested Jan.

An American sailor who raped a Japanese schoolgirl reduced a court interpreter to tears Wednesday with a harrowing account of the attack and the role of two U.S. Marines. Navy Seaman Marcus Gill, 22, of Woodville, Texas, told a Japanese court that the three servicemen planned the assault together, contradicting the two Marines' testimony that Gill bullied them into carrying out the crime. "Everything is pinpointed on me.

Japanese police have asked prosecutors to open an investigation into three U.S. Marines suspected of molesting two junior high school girls in southern Japan last year, police said Friday. The Marines, whose names and hometowns were withheld by police, are crew members of the U.S. ship Essex stationed at Sasebo, about 610 miles southwest of Tokyo. Relatives of the teenage girls asked authorities not to disclose details of the alleged sexual assaults, police said.

The United States is preparing to withdraw 10% to 12% of its military forces from South Korea, Japan and the Philippines over the next three years, according to a classified Pacific strategy plan being prepared by the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney will present the plan to South Korean defense officials today as he begins 10 days of high-level meetings with leaders of the East Asian allies.

A U.S. Marine helicopter slammed into a fog-shrouded hillside in southern Japan on Saturday, killing all seven Marines aboard, military officials said. The CH-53D Sea Stallion crashed about 10:20 a.m. as it was crossing the southwest tip of Shikoku Island in southern Japan just one mile from a nuclear power plant. The crash occurred shortly after Typhoon Thad swept over the area.

An American serviceman pleaded guilty Tuesday to the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old schoolgirl, in a case that galvanized sentiment against U.S. military bases on Japan's southern island of Okinawa. Navy Seaman Marcus D. Gill, 22, of Woodville, Tex., pleaded guilty to all charges against him on the opening day of the trial. Also accused in the Sept. 4 rape were Marine Pfc. Rodrico Harp, 21, of Griffin, Ga., and Marine Pfc. Kendrick M. Ledet, 20, of Waycross, Ga.

The mothers of two U.S. Marines charged with raping a Japanese schoolgirl asked Thursday to move the trial off Okinawa, arguing that local judges are under pressure to harshly punish their sons. Final statements in the trial of three U.S. servicemen accused in the Sept. 4 attack will be delayed while a higher court considers the request, but its ruling is not likely to postpone sentencing expected in late January. The mothers, Daisey Harp and Barbara Cannon, say Okinawa Gov.

This tiny hamlet of sugar cane farmers, nestled quietly in a thick forest in the north of Okinawa, is waging a symbolic battle that may signal a new era in the military alliance binding the United States and Japan. The U.S. Marine Corps wants to build a landing pad about a mile away to train Marines in the tactical use of Harrier jets, a combat aircraft that can take off and land vertically.

The Japanese government is using Okinawa to protect the peace and prosperity of mainland Japan while ignoring the hardships that Okinawans have suffered from 50 years of a heavy U.S. military presence, the province's embattled leader charged Wednesday. "I am afraid they don't care," Gov. Masahide Ota of Okinawa said bitterly. In an hourlong, exclusive interview conducted on the anniversary of the rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl involving three U.S.

The U.S. military authorized commanders on Okinawa to ease a drinking ban and curfew imposed on troops after a spate of crimes that angered island residents. Lt. Gen. Paul V. Hester, head of U.S. forces in Japan, said commanders on the southern Japanese island were given the option, starting Thursday, of lifting or easing the restrictions. The restrictions went into effect July 10 and confined troops to their homes after midnight.

President Clinton told U.S. troops Saturday that they "need to be good neighbors" to the people of Okinawa, who are weary of the massive American military presence on this Japanese island and angry about instances of unruly conduct and crime. "Each of us has a personal obligation to do everything that we can to strengthen our friendship and to do nothing to harm it," Clinton instructed thousands of Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen who waited past 11 p.m.

The U.S. military imposed a late-night curfew and drinking ban on all its service members on Okinawa after several of them allegedly committed crimes that have enraged Japan. The order seemed aimed at calming the community ahead of President Clinton's visit to the island for an international summit July 21-23. The restrictions were imposed on Marines last week after a 19-year-old serviceman allegedly fondled a 14-year-old girl while drunk.

No liquor, a strict curfew and uniforms at all times: Those are the temporary rules laid down for U.S. Marines on Okinawa after a serviceman was charged with molesting a 14-year-old Japanese girl in her bed. The Marine Corps commander, Lt. Gen. Earl B. Hailston, said the measures are meant to guarantee security during a summit of the Group of 8 industrial nations, to be held July 21-23 on Okinawa. He said they had been discussed before the Marine's arrest Monday.

In yet another blow to the image of the U.S. military in Japan, an Air Force sergeant has been arrested on indecency and illegal entry charges for allegedly breaking into a 28-year-old woman's apartment in Okinawa. Okinawa police spokesman Katsuya Matayoshi said investigators arrested U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Danny Matlock, 33, and charged him with indecent exposure and breaking and entering.

Amid continuing resentment in Japan over the U.S. military presence, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen on Tuesday cautioned American troops here to avoid the "one bad deed" that can hurt the military's image and set back their nation's interests. Eighteen months after the rape of an Okinawan girl involving three U.S.

One of three U.S. servicemen charged in the rape of an Okinawa schoolgirl made a trembling apology Monday, asking the court to forgive him for his role in the crime. "I'm sorry for what I've done," Marine Pfc. Rodrico Harp told the court, his voice breaking. "I'm sorry for the outrage I caused. I would feel the same way if someone had hurt my little girl."

The U.S. military authorized commanders on Okinawa to ease a drinking ban and curfew imposed on troops after a spate of crimes that angered island residents. Lt. Gen. Paul V. Hester, head of U.S. forces in Japan, said commanders on the southern Japanese island were given the option, starting Thursday, of lifting or easing the restrictions. The restrictions went into effect July 10 and confined troops to their homes after midnight.

An American sailor is under arrest at the headquarters base of the U.S. Navy in Japan on suspicion of beating and sexually assaulting his Japanese girlfriend in his quarters, police said today. A police spokesman said the incident at Yokosuka Naval Base on the outskirts of Tokyo did not appear to involve rape and happened during an argument between the pair. No formal charges had yet been filed.

Stirring up new ill will with authorities in Okinawa, the U.S. military acknowledged with regret that its jets mistakenly fired 1,520 bullets containing depleted uranium during shooting practice near the island, then waited a year before notifying Japan. U.S. officials said the bullets posed no environmental or health threat. It wasn't clear why they waited until Jan. 16 to tell Japan about the gunfire at a firing range on an uninhabited coral island in late 1995 and early 1996.